I Stand Corrected
by TopHatGirl
Summary: They barely even make eye contact. Everything in their life is so different; there's almost nothing in common. But maybe that's what they need. Especially when Tina gets the shock of her life, and Puck is the only one to pick up the pieces.
1. Chapter 1

The snow is really fucking cold sometimes.

It soaks through his jeans, and gives him the chills.

That kind of coldness that makes you certain that you'll never be warm again.

Puck lifts his head from the snow. Sees that his blood has stained it. Slowly gets up from the bus stop bench, walking.

She's wandering. It's a wandering kind of snow. Her dad used to do this with her. When it was snowing softly, and the evening was dim and blew through the trees. She would just walk, leaving footprints behind. Thermos of cocoa in her hand. Everything was kind of perfect.

But then she saw the flickering figure in the distance, stumbling through the night streets of suburbia. Needing help. And when Tina Cohen-Chang started to help the figure, the flickering became more clear. The figure is Noah Puckerman. She helps him anyways.

"Drink this," she commands, holding out the thermos.

Puck is shivering, jaw chattering. "What's in it?"

"Hot cocoa. Drink it."

He puts it to his lips, and the warm liquid goes down his throat. She notices the cuts and bruises. But she doesn't say anything.

"You're Tina, right?" he asks. She smirks.

"Yeah. I'm the freaky vamp girl who you and your little jock friends put garlic in my backpack."

He just drinks some more.

"Should I take you to the hospital?" she asks.

"No. I just need to get home." He offers back the thermos.

"Keep it. Good luck."

Then she's gone. Back to her walk.

He stays there for a while. A while, being a few seconds before the cold starts to burn again. He stands, clutching the drink. Then he walks home, trying to forget. He doesn't remember putting garlic in anything. But then again, he doesn't remember much about his crimes. It all seems to mush together like a huge pot of potatoes. Or something. The door is locked and his old man is asleep. Fuck. He jumps the fence into his backyard, knocking some branches and shit. He's partially glad he's still sober. He opens his bedroom window and climbs in, not bothering to close it behind him. He collapses on the bed, dead tired. Sleep.

Her room is the pinpoint of predictability in the way of Gothic teens. It has black painted walls, candles instead of lights, and poetry stacked in the bookshelves. Cliché, yes. But to make for it, there's splatter rainbow painted closet, and cluttered everything non-goth in there.

When she got in there, she silently tugged off her combat boots, tossing them into a corner. Then she slept.

He still had all of the cuts, she noticed the next day in the hallways. Small bandages covering it. She didn't look at him, and he did the exact same thing. It was one small chance happening. One that will never likely repeat itself, and that's the way it should be. Mike walked her to class, hand in hand. Sugar plum sweetness and such.

In glee club, she was tempted to ask: _What exactly happened? _But that would be an awkward conversation and the last thing the goth girl wanted was to have more hulking intimidating jocks after her. So she stayed silent as Mercedes had a diva solo and Rachel had a pompous tune about something. All she really cared about was getting home and stuffing her face with leftover birthday cake, because she's skinny and she can do that kind of stuff, dammit.

Puck almost fell asleep during Rachel's song about whatever shit drama was going on in her life. She kept glaring at Finn during it and everyone sang along. Whatever. Too bad he wasn't at home. At home, he has the tennis ball that he just throws at the ceiling, making it bounce right back into his hands. At least the clock says that there's only 5 minutes left. On that thought...

"Yo Dawg Pizza, what are YOOOOOOOOU having?" The annoying-probably-white-as-marshmellows-telephone-dude said. No one even noticed him on the phone.

"Uh, yeah, I'll have a Super Mea-tay Swaggah Pizza." He really hates that stupid pizza place and all of their goddamn pizza names, but put up with it, because it was, honestly, the only pizza joint in town that didn't use pork in pepperoni, but some kind of other animal. Because they're cheap.

"Address?"

"34 Luthur Drive."

"Okay, dawg!" the guy said. Puck growled.

"Shut the hell up before I shove your fake gold 'bling bling' down your throat!" he said.

"O-o-okay. Your pizza will be delivered in thirty minutes or less. Goodbye." He snapped the phone shut and shoved it in his pocket. The five minutes were up, and he didn't even notice that the whole room was now staring at him. He just got up, and left.

She looked after Puck, who stormed out. His last words kind of made you wonder what the conversation on his cell was, and if he _was _leaving to, what'd he say, 'shove your fake gold bling bling down your throat'. Uh, 'kay. She was the second to leave. Just hitched her messenger bag up, and trudged to her locker. Locker combo? 6 26 6. Take away the 2, and you get a twisted sense of humour. The locker swings open, almost threatening to hit Tina in the face. She pauses, seeing a foreign object in her locker.

Her thermos. From last night. The hot cocoa gone. Interesting.

After he got home, and after a very terrified delivery boy delivered, he settled on the couch, opening up the box. His sister got home a little later, whining to have some pizza. He responded by taking one huge bite of the last slice. It was snowing outside. He really wanted to take a walk, snow walks are awesome, but then again...He didn't want to get even more injuries.

Tina sat on her windowsill, watching the glass fog up. She drew pictures in it with her index finger. She really wanted to take a walk in it, but she really didn't want a repeat of last night.

**A/N: A start of a new adventure! AKA, a Puck/Tina fic. My writing style will change back and forth throughout, but I'm aiming for at least 1000 words per chapter. But I am so hungry for some pizza. **


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I kinda hate fanfic sometimes. Because it totally messes up my documents. Like I try to insert lines inbetween stuff, and it just goes "whoa can't handle that!" then deletes it. Argh. Have any ideas how I can show switched POVs without lines? For now, I'll just put a +. If that even works. **

**Also, angsty chapter. Be warned!**

Tina mouthed the words to the movie as the man on screen said them, "Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. _You killed my father_. _Prepare to die_." She had watched the Princess Bride so many times it was kind of pathetic. Who was she kidding? She was the face of pure pathetic-ness. All she did was watch old movies and wallow in horrendous self pity.

It happened always at the end of the month. Usually she excused it away, pegging it on cramps and other feminine horrors. But the truth it, at the end of the month, her father went off to some place for a "business meeting" and her mother went out drinking with friends. She usually didn't come home until a day later.

She secretly wished she was old enough to just drink all day at the end of the month.

Twenty four long ass hours passed. Weekends were usually spent hanging out with friends and crashing out at chicks houses. But now, Puck just strummed his guitar, tuning here and there. He used to have a plan back in sophomore year. He would become a badass guitar player and Finn would become a kickass drummer. He would somehow get a bass player(every band has a bass player. It's just common knowledge) and then get like, a keyboard or something. Then they'd become famous. Bam. It was so perfect.

Then Finn started to not talk to him that much. Then they joined glee club and they never got to practice and shit. And now the Puckasarus was spending his Saturday afternoon doing nothing because it was snowing like crazy and he had zero plans. Even Santana was going to some show with Britt. He pretty much sucked ass right now. And he wanted a damn burrito, dammit.

He rummaged through the cabinets, seeing if he could find anything. Cheetos. He ripped open the bag. Empty. Fuck, he was going to have to go to the store.

"Ma! Going to the store!" He shouted. She woke up from her nap.

"Get the money from the wallet! And get some more cough drops for your sister, please!" she said. His mom's tired. She's got one of those jobs, where you wear long pencil skirts that don't show off your legs and your boss is a dick. She's overworked, and she doesn't let me forget it. Constantly complaining. He opens her wallet and pull out forty bucks.

Then he gets in his truck, revving up the old engine. Hears the dreadful sound. The sound that every truck driver knows: your truck is shit and broken.

He pulls the keys out of the ignition, and opens the car door, getting hit by a wave of falling snow. The wind is so strong that it's blowing sideways. But it'll only last five minutes, then it'll become powder again. Puck puts on his more sturdier boots, and starts to walk.

Tina decides that wallowing is a boring way to spend a Saturday. So she gets up, and heats up some water. She watches the microwave spin the water around and around. She often watches the microwave, sitting up on the counter, knees bunched up to her chin. Whenever her mother warns her about radiation, it makes her do it more. When the water's heated, she pours it in a cup along with a packet of hot cocoa powder. She opens up her spice cabinet(her mother also made her go through extensive cooking lessons to make her please a man) and pulls out a bottle of cinnamon. She takes a small whiff, and sprinkles a bit on. Stirs. She even considers putting in a little nutmeg, but she decided that this would be alright.

She pours it into her red thermos, and sets it on the counter. She puts on her black button up long sleeved, and black jeans. She puts on her combat boots again, because lacing them up feels normal. Then she goes outside into the snowy wonderland, hot cocoa in hand. Taking a sip, she walks.

You know it's a sucky day when you're still deciding which frozen burrito to get. The frozen aisle was starting to make his arms get goosebumps, and he just pulled out a random box, which completed his grocery list. He didn't forget the cough drops. The cashier regarded him as another douchebag who just ate frozen burritos. And he was. Puck gave him the money, with a grumbled "keep the change". He left the store with a plastic bag in his hand, dreading the walk back.

He was wrong, the snow did not clear up in the past fifteen minutes. It had gotten worse. The frost bit his cheeks. He moved his feet anyways, making his way down the streets. The rough part of Lima, Ohio, if you could believe there was one.

"Hey look guys, its Mr. Mohawk. The dude who think he's so tough," a voice from behind him says, loudly.

Shit.

"It is! Why don't we say hello?" another voice. A meaty hand grabs his shoulder, spinning him around. The snow is so thick that it's hard to see, but he can still recognize an attacker. Three of them. Each had a face you would expect thugs who had nothing better to do than harass people would. The "leader" had an ugly mutt face and big fat lips. Mutt face, he likes to call him. The other were Lazy Eye and Meat Knuckles. Clever, huh?

"Why hello there, Puckerman," Mutt face says.

"It's Puck," Puck says with a harsh growl.

"Who gives a shit?" Lazy Eye is begging to smash Puck to a bloody pulp.

"Look," Mutt face continues. "we told you, get your arrogant ass out of our neighborhood."

"Why? I'm walking home. There's no crime about that."

"Yeah, but there is a crime against smart asses talking like they own the world," Lazy Eye says. Meat Knuckles just stands there, arms crossed. Not speaking.

"Hey, what's the punishment again?" Mutt Face asks Lazy Eye.

"I know!" Meat Knuckles says, finally speaking. Then I get a fist to my face.

Tina doesn't know where exactly she's walking to. She doesn't even care about the harsh winds and weather. She's used to it. She enjoys walking in this kind of storm, though. Makes her feel tougher. Not just a silent girl who wears different outfits. Like one of those sharp girls in movies with tight clothing and high heeled boots. Making the men look weak.

She turned a corner, going onto the uphill stretch. It wasn't steep, though. Like a rampway. Steadily going up.

A flickering figure spotted the distance.

Four, actually.

And when Tina Cohen-Chang got a bit closer, she saw three guys snickering and walking away.

And then she saw Puck lying there in the snow, bleeding and shivering.

Time to be the hero again.

**A/N2: Word count for this chapter: 1229. Awesome. **


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: YAY! Thanks to Celtic Quilt, for making me feel like an idiot because I had no idea you could edit a page in FF. **

**Song I Listened To While Writing: No Cars Go by Ok Go. It doesn't fit the chapter, at all. But it's good, so feel free to listen to it. **

**Word goal: 1500. **

She carefully stepped over to the heaping mass of bloody flesh. That was a pretty gross description. Really, Noah Puckerman was curled up in the fetal position, almost unconscious. Bruises tainted him everywhere, to a point where she couldn't tell if he was man or injury. One of those guys had a knife, she realized. That's like, illegal. Right?

"Puck," she said. No answer. "Puck!"

His eyelids snapped open. "You again."

"What a way to address a lady." She attempted to heave Puck up. Failure. "Come on, try to stand."

He grunts, making a real effort. He manages to make it to his feet, but he's still teetering, about to collapse at any moment. Tina helps him balance by putting an arm around his back and somehow supporting him. Which was hard, because Puck was twice her size. It was extremely difficult to get Puck back to her house. First of all, he must weigh, 180lbs or something. Secondly, the wind and snow was hitting them like crazy. And thirdly, Puck was going to pass out at any second.

When she opened the front door of her house, she couldn't be more relieved. She shut it behind them, blocking out the cold. Then she told Puck to sit on her couch. She went to her bathroom, and searched in her medicine cabinet for something to help him. Maybe medicine was like cooking. You just mix ingredients that work well together to make something that helps. So she got the neosporin and bandages, with a warm washcloth.

"Press this against your eye," she demanded, handing him the washcloth. He obeyed.

"Can I lie down?" he whines/asks. She rolls her eyes.

"Sure."

He shifts onto his back, staring up at the ceiling. Tina can see blood pooling on his shirt. She pulls it up and manages to get over his head.

"Want to stare at my abs?" Puck says. Even while in horrendous pain, he's still an ass.

She bites her lip. "I can't really see them when they're covered with blood." There were no serious lacerations, just a scatter of smaller cuts that made everything seem a lot worse. She got another washcloth and began cleaning everything.

Maybe she could be a doctor instead of a chef. That would certainly make her parents happy.

_

* * *

_

He occupies himself by finding patterns in the ceiling. He tries to not focus on the girl who's currently rubbing his chest with a washcloth. Sexy, but he really didn't want to think about that. Because he didn't want to create a mess with Tina, too. He finally stopped having rocks thrown at him at random times from random girls. She had really soft hands too. And if he made a pervy remark, she might stop and make him leave. Then he'd have to walk home. So he's just going to be quiet and let this soft-hands long-eyelashes girl fix him up. He grit his teeth whenever there was pain, and tried not to cry. That would not be badass.

"Does it hurt?" Tina asks softly.

"No," He lies.

She rolls her eyes. "Liar."

He cracks a grin. "Just talk about something. Anything."

* * *

What could she possibly talk about? What do they have in common? Uh...glee! Yeah, glee.

"Mr. Schue's assignment sucks..." she began.

"Anything but glee."

"Why not?"

"Just don't."

She bites her lip again. Okay. "Can I talk about music in general?"

"Yeah."

"Well. A lot of people hate it when girls sing in rock bands. But I don't. I like a lot of girl singers. Like Lily Allen and Sia and Paramore and Metric..." she trailed off, catching on to her rambling. Damn.

"Metric. I like that band," he said. It was a start. "What other bands?"

She begins applying neosporin to the cuts. "Uh...The Killers, CAKE, The Strokes, Arctic Monkeys, Vampire Weekend, MGMT, Mirah, Kate Nash, Weezer, The Hives, Katy Perry, and a bunch of others..." She pretty much listed her entire iPod.

"Any guilty pleasures?" he asked.

"What do you mean?"

"The bands that you would never admit to anybody that you listen to."

"Well..." she blushed. "Never Shout Never."

Puck laughed. "You're asian. Shouldn't you like weird Japenese bands and watch a bunch of anime?"

"That's racist. I pretty much watch The Simpsons and The Office."

"Freak."

"Shut up. I could just leave you in the snow."

"Point taken."

"So what do you do?"

"I play my guitar. I go on dates. The usual."

"You are so stereotypical."

Puck shrugged. "Whatever. I do what I want."

They both lapsed into an awkward silence then. Tina was still placing the bandages everywhere.

"So why did you get beat up?" she asked in a quiet voice.

"Don't."

"I was just asking-"

"Don't," he repeated, fiercely. She gulped, and went back to work. After he was all patched up, Tina examined her work. Does a doctor get paid well? She hoped so.

"I'll get you some tea, that helps," she said, and got no response. She stood up, brushing off imaginary dirt off her jeans. Taking one look outside, she could barely see anything. Everything was just white. It was probably up to her knees out there. She looked to the almost-asleep Puck on her couch. She gave a half smile, and went to boil the water.

* * *

He needed to get to sleep. His eyelids were getting heavier and heavier by the minute, everything seeming to droop. He couldn't just pass out on Tina's couch though. That would be rude. And...

* * *

She turned off the heat on the stove as soon as Puck started snoring. She sighed, knowing there would be no way in hell to wake a sleeping beast. At least her parents weren't home. She put one of the blankets over him, and turned out the living room light and went to her room, letting him sleep.

In the morning, Tina emerged from her room at eight am to get ready for her Sunday run. If there was one thing Tina was immediately proud of whenever anybody asked, "What's the body part you like the most?" would be her calves. Yes, she had worked to make her calves the best damn thing ever. She always covered them with tights and leggings, but they were her calves, nontheless.

She went out into the living room, expecting to see Puck still asleep.

But there was just an empty space on the couch, where that flickering figure used to be.

Blankets tossed to the side.

No note.

No thank you.

"That bastard," she muttered.

* * *

Puck got up at 6-fucking-am. In the morning. He got a banana(even though at one point he vowed not to eat bananas) and took a chomp before setting out home. Puckasaurus wasn't one to say thank-you, especially to a vampire chick with too much makeup. But he did make sure to not wake her up as he slipped away into the early morning back home.

* * *

Tina woke up Monday exactly the same as always, not expecting anything out of the day. If you're looking for flaws in her, here's one: she's completely invisible in classes. Remember Matt? No? Exactly. Tina is a female Matt. She even wears huge headphones and listens to music during art and no one catches her. It's pathetic. So while teachers are busy not calling on her, she had an excruciating amount of time to think. And to sleep. She thought about talking to Puck. But then she thought about how if he's an ass and she kind of loathes him. So she goes back to being ignored.

Don't look at her. Don't look at her. Don't look at her. Don't look at her.

He looked at her. Crap. She wasn't crying or anything. She did look spacey, though.

"Why are you staring at Vampire?" Santana asked. He shrugged.

"Because..." Crap, why was he staring at her? "Because she has lipstick on her teeth."

Santana rolled her eyes, and Puck sighed at relief.

Why did she help him?

Why did he let her?

He was supposed to be the badass.

Not needing saving.

"Puck?" Mr. Schue asks. "Are you going to sing along with us?"

"Sorry Mr. Schue," he mutters.

Just forget about everything.

Tina was looking at him oddly now.

Crap.

**A/N: Word count: 1499. REALLY? CRAP. Hold on...**

This is going to be an awkward day.

**A/N: There. Word count: 1516. Better. **


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: God I hate New Year's. Most depressing thing ever when you can't drink and friends are out of town. Which makes me sound emo. Goddamn. Anyways, happy new year to those who have lives.**

**Word Goal: 1500**

"You're an ass," Tina said simply, setting her cafeteria tray in front of Puck, who was currently talking to Finn. Finn gave a questioning look to Tina, and she ignored him. After hours of contemplating, she decided she was going to tell Puck that he is: an ass.

"For what?" Puck asked.

"I saved your ungrateful ass. Say thank you." She was so sick of being quiet.

Puck paused as he was about to shove a forkful of mystery stew in his mouth. "No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

Seeing as this was going to go on, Tina said, "Why not." Statement, not question.

Finn was trying to decide if leaving was a good idea or not. But this was seeming to be interesting stuff...

"Because I don't need to," Puck said.

"Don't need to?" Tina screeched.

Puck was kind of noticing how Tina was a badass. She was pissed off, and he guessed that was sort of understandable. She started on a lecture about manners and shit. But he just watched her. Her hair did this weird wave thing when she was mad, and her hands balled into fists. Her lecture was Rachel Berry-ish, but with Tina he didn't mind, because her voice was still kind of quiet and stuff. He also thought about how long Tina's nails were, and if it hurt to have them in fists. Wouldn't they bite at her skin? Maybe they did. Her boots looked painful. Huge latches and stuff, like they were made out of armor. Even though Tina's eyes were totally Asian, they had this passionate glow in them. Like fire. Or fireworks. Yeah, fireworks. She also was wearing jeans today. Granted, she was also wearing a gothic corset, but jeans. Not like Tina. And she wasn't wearing much makeup. Puck kind've like her face better without makeup. She looked better.

"-and all you do is leave?" She's done with her rant. Puck snaps back to attention like a rubber band.

"Thank you," Puck says forcefully. The bell rings, and Puck picks up his tray without a word, and throws the mystery food into the trash, leaving. Tina stared after him, and he felt it burn through his back. Whatever. He had a history class to get to.

"And again, we will be doing duets!" Mr. Schue said excitedly. "And the magic hat will decide your partners!" Fuck. His stupid smile was still plastered to his face as people randomly pulled out names.

"Rachel, and Artie." Artie looked like he might shoot himself. Don't blame you. "Brittany and Mike." Crazy dancing will happen. "Finn and Mercedes." These were getting more and more boring until...

"Puck and Tina."

Of fucking course. The jewish god looked down on him and decided that he would unleash this vampire on him to eventually suck his blood. The monster that is Schue continues, "You will choose your own songs, and even do choreography. It's due by the end of the month."

This is really not happening. First she has to go all Florence Nightingale(a/n: ha!) on him, now she has to sing a song with him? This is going to end up as an acoustic guitar with some cheesy song mess. About rock. Or something. Most cliché thing, ever. (a/n: if you're expecting that the fact they got paired together is going to make the rest of the story cliché, you couldn't be more wrong)

"What song?" Puck asks, suddenly appearing in the seat next to her.

"No idea."

"Really?"

"Really."

This was going to be a hard partnership if they kept spinning in circles.

"Want to limit down options, make plans?"

"Plans are for losers and Berrys. We wing it."

"Just throw anything, see if it works, or if it breaks windows? If it flies with dignity or with uncertainty? See if it lands just right, with a bang and not a thud?"

"That's a poetic why of putting it."

"Apparently, I'm a vampire. Vampires have time in their caves. Poetry is a thing to do in caves."

"That's not the only thing you can do in caves."

"Have you had a lot of experience in caves?"

"No."

"Then how do you know?"

"Because maybe I have an imagination."

"Noah Puckerman having an imagination. Can't imagine that. Get it?"

"Why do you use my full name?"

"Emphasis."

"You're an odd chick."

"That wasn't obvious?"

"Not really. At first, you just seemed like a freak who wanted to speak but couldn't, so she did so with her wardrobe."

"Interesting theory. And now?"

"You're odd."

"Ah."

"We still don't have a song."

"We have two weeks."

"I have things to do."

"Really?"

"Really."

Back to the start.

Puck kept glancing at Tina throughout the day, now. She never seemed to talk, being absorbed in her own thoughts. Her locker was neat and clean(seriously? Who had a clean locker in high school?). She seemed to be in love with Mike, leaning close and holding hands. Harmoniously, like two notes on a page. Damn, now he was getting poetic. He was confused. Even though he was sort of fuck buddies with Santana, he was...single. Damn. He needed a girl, and fast.

Rachel, of course.

She was now single, due to the fact of her and his tongue party.

And she was busy humming to herself in front of her locker.

Just one one-liner, and she would be furiously Frenching with her.

"Don't."

One word. He turned around.

"What do you want, Kurt?" he asked.

Kurt Hummel brushed his hair with his fingers. "I'm warning you. Finn and Rachel broke up. She's on rebound. Perfect opportunity, right?"

"Right..."

"Wrong! Perfect opportunity equals a whole lot of drama. I'm pretty sick of drama, honestly."

"What? How could that cause drama?"

"Okay, let's think. You woo Rachel, she agrees, going out with you. But she's still in love with Finn, who's in love with her partially, so he needs to fill the hole. He goes to Santana. They...do...something, and it means absolutely nothing, but nonetheless, it happens, so guess what? Rachel's jealous. She sings a horrendous song, probably by awful Taylor Swift, and then you're screwed, Rachel and Finn are a lovey dovey bad couple, and Santana is the same. You're single again. No problems have been solved, and Rachel and Finn are back together. They are the most annoying couple ever, because Finn talks endlessly about her at home. I have to deal with that. I DO NOT WANT TO LISTEN TO A RACHEL BERRY TAYLOR SWIFT, AND I DO NOT WANT TO HAVE TO DEAL WITH MORE DRAMA! DO NOT GO OUT WITH RACHEL!" Kurt said, all in one breath. Puck stood there, frozen.

"Okay, I will not go out with Rachel."

"Good," Kurt said, turning on his heel and leaving. (a/n: I have predicted the second half of season two right there, people.).

Now what?

He's single.

He needs a girl.

Life totally sucks.

Oh god, does everyone have to kiss in the middle of the hallway?

He slams his locker, leaving the hallway, every non-popular kid quivering in their batman underwear.

* * *

Tina watched as Mike went off to football, a dreading knot getting tighter in her stomach. Mike gone meaning Tina had to walk home from school to get home. Meaning those large chunks of frozen water were about to hit her. Normally, Tina wouldn't have really minded. But now it was just tedious. She sighed, pulling up her hoodie and taking a step out into the cold. And it was cold. It pierced her body, making her shiver a bit. Her thin hoodie only provided minimal warmth, like paper trying to block rain. Tomorrow, she's bringing her black umbrella. For now, it was shivering madness until she got to her empty house.

"Get in," a rough voice came from the road. Tina was off to the sidewalk, looking up at the beat up Ford truck as Puck leaned back against the seat. Snowflakes were starting to block her vision, and she briefly wondered if this was a hallucination, and poor Tina was passed out on the parking lot right now.

"No," Tina said, thinking that Puck was about to murder her for standing up to him.

"Tina," he started, using her real name. "Get in. I'm not letting you walking home, my mom would kill me for letting a damsel be in distress, no matter how scary looking you are. And goddamn, tomorrow don't wear a skirt. That's completely ridiculous."

Tina stared at him, his arms hanging out the window, completely nonchalant.

"B-but..."

"Tina. Get. In."

"O-o-kay."

As she was climbing in, he said, "Didn't know the stutter was back."

"I-it's not." Then, realizing. "It's not," she said more firmly.

Then they drove down the road, snow still pounding on the sidewalk like drums. Drums that echoed in her ears, signs of impending doom. Or impending nothingness. Right now, it was just snow. And that was more terrifying than anything.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: I always mention how cold it is. Probably because where I live IT'S FREEZING. And scraping the windows of my car is not a great morning. **

**Note: I don't ever bother with fixing past-and-present tense in my fanfics. Real stories? Sure. No one's ever complained about that though. So maybe I'm constant with my tenses. Hmmmm.**

Some things were kinda confusing. Puck told Tina to wear a skirt the next day. He thought that over. Why did he say that? One of Puck's favorite hobbies was staring at bare legs all day. And Tina did have a fine pair of legs. He probably wanted Tina to trust him. He was going to get weeks of bitch-fest if he didn't respect her. He also noticed the goose bumps forming on her pale arms, and turned up the heat, a blast of warm air blowing in her direction. She brought her legs up to her chest, in a fetal position. Different from the badass girl he saw over the weekend.

"Cold?" he asks.

"No."

"I thought you were a vampire."

She looks away, blinking hard. _Great, _he thinks. _She's sensitive. _

"Anyways..." he says.

"Anyways..." she echoes, mocking him.

We pull up in the driveway.

"Thanks," she murmurs. Then she swings out of the car, one fine leg at a time, and gently steps to the door, like a ballerina.

* * *

She's the good girl.

She's momma's favorite, even if she's the only child.

And she's perfectly content with eating her peas and drinking her milk, pretending that her family of three is the picture of functional.

It all started with her brother.

Yes, at one point, she was a sister.

No, he's not dead.

Her father wishes he was.

Her mother wishes he was just never happened.

"_You need help, Jared," she says, resting a hand on her brother's shaking body, his eyes hollow and desperate. _

"_He needs to go away, that's what he needs," her father says. "We need to send him to a military camp. Or an Asian rehab."_

_Her mother wept._

Her brother hops the nearest train the next day. She never hears of him again, and now she's being trained to be the good girl.

Today she doesn't feel like eating. She just cuts her food into tiny pieces and hides them into her napkin.

Back straight. Shoulders back. Write with cursive. And parents don't yell, never scream.

Only to eachother. Through the thin walls.

That's when Tina buys a pair of headphones.

Then she stares up at the ceiling, music on full volume, sinking. Drowning out her parent's screams.

"You bastard! I knew you went off to get some whore ass!" Her mother.

"Where did you hear that? Your bitch friends? Oh, yeah, you have no friends!" Her father. She hears a scream of pain, and knows her father slapped her mother.

More speaking in Chinese, too fast for Tina to follow.

She can understand, "I WANT A DIVORCE!" though. She knows the drill for this. Lace up her boots and take a walk, so her parents can keep arguing and then fuck without her hearing. It's a beautiful process.

It's still a chilly 18 degrees Fahrenheit, and Tina doesn't have her trusty thermos in her hand. But, being a vampire, as Puck said so nicely, she sometimes ignored the cold. The biting. The numbness.

"I was wondering if I would see you out here," a voice said from behind her.

She slowly turned around to see a mohawk and a smirk.

"We have to stop meeting like this," he continues. She knows that's a quote from somewhere, but she doesn't have the energy to search her brain.

"What are you doing here?" She spats. Oh god, she's starting to sound like her mother.

"I don't know," Puck said. "Everything sucked at home, and you always seem to be walking, and I thought that might be a good idea."

"You went walking because I go walking?"

"Not exactly. But if you really wish, you could say that."

Thank god it was so dark, because Tina's cheeks were starting to form a familiar pink.

There's silence, because they're both looking up at the clouds, starting to shed dandruff flakes of snow. Tina shivered again, realizing with stupidity that she was still wearing her black tutu skirt.

"Cold?" Puck asks.

"No," she lies.

There's such a silence on that street that the wisp of a butterfly wing would shatter it.

"You don't have to be tough all of the time," he says.

"Yes, I do. If I don't, then people like you swoop in and take advantage of the helpless prey."

Puck groans, digging his palm into his forehead. "See, this is exactly what I didn't want. You getting all defensive and not trusting me. Jesus, I'm not trying to get into your pants. We're two people. That. Is. It."

"Good."

"Good."

He shoves his hands into his pockets, and blows into the air. She notices how they can see their breath. Everything pauses.

"It's late. Shouldn't you be getting home?" Puck asks. She looks away.

"Maybe so. But I'm fine in the dark out here."

"Lemme guess, it's better than home," he says, his eyebrows light and amused, but his eyes having a serious glint.

* * *

She doesn't speak, confirming Puck's suspicions. She doesn't take walks because she wants to be fit, she takes them because home life sucks.

He can relate. But with a hella of a lot of effort, he made it okay,

"Well, do you think you'd want to go home right now?" Puck asked.

Tina shook her head. "No. Not right now. When it's over, then yes."

"Well, you hungry?" he asks.

* * *

In response, her stomach growls, and with embarrassment Tina realizes that she never really did eat dinner. "A little," she admits.

"Well whenever I have extra cash and my home life sucks, I go to this 24-hour diner. Come on." They begin to walk towards the more populated part of the city. It's not that long of a walk in such a small town, but in the cold it seems like forever. Their footsteps fall in synch with each other, and she subconsciously leans into him, because he's really warm. He doesn't seem to notice, wrapped up in his own thoughts.

"What about The Killers?" Puck suddenly asks, breaking the silence.

"Nah," Tina said, automatically knowing that he was talking about the duet. "Even though I absolutely worship them, they aren't the usually norm for duets."

He nods, and they arrived at the cheap diner with a crackling neon sign advertising it's open 24-hours. Except for on 'the Lord's day'. Yes, it actually says that. She assumes they mean Sunday, but she was never religious. An aging waitress with 99 cent lipstick sits us down at a booth with a knowing smile at Puck.

"Does she know you?" Tina asks.

Puck rubs his neck. "You know how I said that I go here whenever home sucks? Well, home sucks a lot."

Tina nods, wondering why Puck was telling her all of this. Maybe because they finally shared a common ground?

* * *

Why is he telling her all of this?

Shit, now she's gonna tell everyone.

Unless...

"Don't tell anyone about this," he says in a low, menacing growl. "Or I will...I will..."

"You'll give me empty threats?" Tina asks, eyebrow raised. "Don't worry, Puck. I get it. I really do."

Marlene comes up to them a few minutes of analyzing each other. "So, Noah. Finally snagged a girl to come to your mysterious midnight visits here?"

"Yup, she's now an accomplice." He smiles at Marlene. Despite her rugged and old appearance, she was okay. She never questioned why exactly Puck came here so often.

"Well, she's a pretty one," she says, gaze shifting to a very pink Tina. "So, will it be the regular grilled cheese and coffee for you?" He nods. "And for you, sweetheart?" she asks Tina.

"Uh...a grilled cheese sounds really good," she says.

"Anything to drink?"

"Pink lemonade," she says immediately. Puck gives her a questioning look. Who orders a lemonade in the middle of January?

Marlene smiles, and leaves them alone.

"So you don't really bring anyone here?" Tina asks.

"No. For some reason, I don't think that people would think it's very cool," he says.

"It's pretty cool to someone who's starving and doesn't want to go home," she says quietly. Puck feels like smiling and hugging her and telling her all of the stories about how much his life sucks. But the feeling quickly passes, because that would be totally lame and girlish. Instead I smirk, and Marlene comes back with two steaming plates of grilled cheese. He starts to dig into mine, taking a huge Puckasaurus bite, when he notices the cool glass of pink lemonade.

"Why the lemonade? It's freezing," he asks.

"When I had my braces put on," Tina begins, taking a long sip. "I couldn't drink soda for two horrendous years. But every time I got them tightened or fixed, my dad would take me for pink lemonade, because that's the only good thing I could drink."

Then she begins to weep softly, tears trailing down her cheeks.

Oh, god.

Puck was thankful the diner was empty at this hour, because the sight would've been pretty weird. A crying asian girl who was, crying unexpectedly about a story about lemonade. Puck awkwardly patted her shoulder from across the table.

"He's such a jerk!" Tina says through garbled breaths. Puck sighs, and comes to Tina's side of the booth. Tina starts to cry into his shoulder.

So that's it.

The dad is probably an ugly brute.

Puck can relate.

"He used to be so nice! Then he got a promotion and he started sleeping with whores and my mom argues with him all of the time and my brother...oh, god, my brother, goddamn I just hate my parents now!" she says. He has no idea what she's blubbering about, but for once, Puck doesn't walk away from the drama. He just lets Tina cry, because he knows exactly what it's like.

* * *

And as the snow continues to drop at a frightening rate, the two teenagers sit there at 1am, in a shit diner, one crying and one unsure how to comfort her. They barely know each other, and the next day will probably be pretty awkward.

But for now, they just have one another.

And that's enough for now.

**A/N2: Word Count: 1800. Sweet. **


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: I KEEP FORGETTING TINA HAS A BOYFRIEND. **

**Note: If you want a laugh, listen to Wolfmother's Woman. It's a good song, but imagine glee doing it. Funny, right? **

**If you have suggestions for a song you would really want Tina and Puck to sing, speak now. Nothing in the Top 25 hits, if you know what I mean. Their relationship is unique, ergo the song should be. If you suggest a song I like, then I'll give you credit in the next chapter.**

Tina thanks Puck for the 15th billion time as she exits her truck and walks up to the driveway. To her home. At 1:30am. At least her mom and dad were probably going at it like wild monkeys, not caring if there's some noise of her coming in to the house. She was home free.

She digs around in her pocket for the house keys, and unlocks the door, pushing it open. Instead of finding a dark, empty room. Instead, she finds her mother on the couch, nursing a headache with a wet washcloth.

"Mom?" she asks. Her mother immediately lifts her head.

"Tina? Where the hell have you been? I've been worried sick!" she demands.

"I-I-"

"Don't you start with that damn stutter again!" she says. Tina bites her tongue.

"Sorry?"

"Don't you dare think you can do that again! You aren't going to be like the men in this family, going off into the late hours of the morning, probably having sex with random strangers!"

"I was not having sex with random strangers!" she says, appalled.

"How do I know that?" Her mother says. Tina finally notices the desperate note in her voice, that plea. Her mother's throat is choking up.

"Mom...where's dad?" she asks.

"He left," she whispers.

"What?"

"He said he was going out, then left."

Her knees start to shake. "Well, he'll be back. This happens all of the time!"

"Of course he will, sweetheart. He always will be." There's a harsh bite in her voice, like she just ate a cobra.

Tina nods. "Okay."

"Tina? Where were you?" her mother asks.

"With a friend." Kind of.

"Boy or girl?" The question was so direct it felt like someone had punched her.

"A girl," she lied.

"Are you a lesbian?" her mother asked calmly.

"What? No!" Is her mother insane? She doesn't have anything against lesbians, but jumping to that conclusion just seemed...weird.

"Then you were out with a boy!"

"How do you figure?"

"What girl is out until 1am with another girl and doesn't just crash at her house? I may no longer have any friends, but I knew how late nights worked."

"You're crazy."

"But you were out with a boy."

"I don't have to deal with this!" She stomps out of the living room, into her own bedroom.

"Just like your brother!" Her mom calls after her.

Tina slams the door behind her, rage boiling up inside her, she just,

"FUCK!" she screamed, hitting a pillow, briefly imagining it was her father. Or her mother.

How _dare _she refer to her brother! She doesn't deserve to speak about him.

What a bitch.

She lays on the bed, promptly wanting to turn off the lights. When she noticed her phone still on her end table. She must've forgotten to put it in her pocket when she went for her little walk. She presses a button on the side, and it lights up with life.

**Three Messages From: Mike**

Shit. Her grasp tightens around her phone, sinking to the floor.

She forgot all about the boyfriend she was completely in love with.

She has just spent the night with another boy and she forgot all about her _boyfriend. _

Oh, god.

Was she really becoming like her father?

Imagining it, her stomach sank lower and lower, room becoming small, sucking in.

It was like a shitty soap opera.

Here it is:

"_Oh daddy, I love you!" The young Asian girl says, running after her father._

"_I don't love you anymore. You aren't my little girl anymore."_

_The father leaves._

_Enter ARTIE._

"_I'm just like you," he says._

"_Not like you think!" Tina says, revealing the bunny in her hat._

"_You aren't handicapped? I hate you," Artie says._

"_But I love you," she says._

"_Me too!" They kiss._

"_No I don't," Tina says._

_EXIT ARTIE._

_Enter MIKE._

"_Asian hug!" he yells, embracing her._

"_Brb!" Tina says._

_EXIT TINA._

_Change scene. _

"_I'm a whore," Puck says._

"_I will be too, just to have a connection with my father," Tina says._

Scene.

Of course, none of this is true. Tina doesn't love Puck, and she will never have sex with him.

But she didn't have a second thought about being with him that night until now.

* * *

Puck doesn't notice Tina coming in late during History the next day, because he came in even later, but he did notice her face.

Deep purple half circles were under her eyes, and her skin was pasty white. She pointedly didn't look at Puck, which confused him. Sure, they didn't have some everlasting connection that would make them BFFs, but he thought they were past total bitchery.

"Hey, so I was thinking that we could discuss the song at lunch," he said when he approached her still annoyingly clean locker.

"Sorry," she said, putting away a random textbook. "I'm having lunch with my boyfriend." Was it just him, or was the word 'boyfriend' saying with spite.

"Whoa whoa whoa. No need for this total fierce woman thing. I thought were cool."

"What's your definition of cool?" she murmurs, transfixed on her locker dial.

"We're not friends, we're not fighting. Past fights are forgotten."

She stops fiddling with her locker, then turns to him, smiling. "Then we're cool."

"Well, look. After school we can work on it somewhere, okay?" he asks.

"Fine. But not past 5."

He holds up both hands, palms out. "Okay, that's fine."

"Fine."

"Fine."

She smiles. Good, at least they're past the cold shoulder phase.

* * *

Tina gives Mike the biggest kiss possible when she sees him to make up for her gnawing guilt.

His eyebrows raised in a questioning way, but he doesn't protest at least.

"Something wrong?" he asks.

She sighs. "Nope, all good." They walk towards the cafeteria. She always feel some swell of pride when they walk right past the football team's table and outside to the other tables. They have this little table where they listen to Mike's iPod and talk about school and stuff.

He doesn't know about her family.

He doesn't know about her brother.

She knows about his loving family who invites her to dinner. Even if his mom is overprotective and annoying, at least she loves him.

Tina wonders if Puck will take her to the diner again. She kind of liked the thought of, the thought of the diner being like, a spot. A spot where she could cry about her shitty life without feeling stupid. A spot where Puck wasn't a total ass.

He didn't take her to the diner.

It was still snowing when she walked outside. She was wearing pants, and it felt considerably warmer with them on. She half expected Puck to just forget about it and disappear. He doesn't, but he does show up 10 minutes late.

"What took you so long?" she asks, getting sick of sitting on the brick wall outside of the school. The snow was soaking through her pants, something she didn't even want to think about. Puck shrugged with one shoulder, and heaved his backpack up further.

"Let's go."

She gets into his truck and he blasts on the heat, blowing it full force into her face. It feels good at first, but eventually she has to block it with her backpack to keep from overheating.

"Where are we going?" she asks when he makes a turn downtown. He doesn't answer, probably focusing on the road ahead. Cars kept swerving by at frightening speeds, and the snow makes it hard to see. But Puck has his four wheel truck that pretty much doesn't even get an inch out of the road. After about ten more minutes they pull up to Music Junkie, the only music store in Lima. Besides the one on 7th, but that one's run by a fading old man who constantly plays country music. So, yeah. For adolescents craving something other than country, MJ is really the only place. Tina doesn't go to it anyways; this age already perfected the illegal download, but Puck probably goes here because it's a good place to get ideas for songs.

Puck locks the car, and they enter through the tinted windowed doors. The cashier nods at Puck like he's a regular customer, and they start to wander through the aisles. Puck tosses her a couple of old school rock like Aerosmith and Guns N' Roses, and I have to keep telling him that wouldn't work as a duet song. When he suggest Wolfmother she bursts out laughing, imagining the band trying to nail the guitar of Joker and The Theif, and the whole club being completely bewildered by a rendition of Woman.

"What about Vampire Weekend?" she asks, showing him a CD.

"I hate that band," he says. "It's like they don't even know how to define themselves. Besides, they're attempt at a guitar solo is weak."

"I think they're okay," she says meekly, blushing.

"Really?" he asks with a raised eyebrow. "Fine, what's your favorite song?"

"I Stand Corrected," she says.

"Toss it to me," he says. He brings it to the demo station, where you put in the CD and listen to one song on it. He puts on the huge headphones and scrolls to the song she mentioned. She's nervous that he'll toss the headphones and declare that they're a disgrace to music.

Instead he just listens. Then when the song ends, he shrugs.

"I could get into it that one song, because the drums are pretty solid. But the guy's voice is sort of machined and autotuned. Not obvious, but obviously tampered with," he states.

She stares at him. "You seem to know a lot about music."

He smirks. "Yeah, well, when you're father is a rockstar, you either learn a thing or two, or stand through awkward conversations at family reunions."

"That's kinda cool, about your dad."

"I guess. At first I thought he was an idol, being totally wild and carefree. But after about seventeen years of seeing him once every two years, you just want him to be more of a dad then a party animal."

"I can relate," Tina says with a sigh.

He raises an eyebrow. "Yeah?" he asks doubtfully.

"In a way," she says. "I get wanting your dad around more, that's for sure."

There's a silence, but not an awkward one. More understanding.

"Well, let's keep looking."

* * *

Puck actually hated the song. It was very auto-tuned, and seemed to be more whiny then musical. But he could tell Tina was dreading his reaction. Besides, at least she didn't suggest some creepy vampire music. He wished that Mr. Schue would let them do more heavy metal and actual rock besides Journey, but those chances were slim. He doubted Hummel or Rachel would ever be caught dead in the kind of outfits Heavy Metal guys wear. It was nice that Tina at least knew who the bands were instead of going straight for the Broadway songs. And she even second glanced at some System of A Down songs, so she gets points for that.

What song though?

There was tons of Arcade Fire songs that they could sing together, but none that really...fit.

He also wanted it to stand out, not some repeat of a Gaga song or God forbid, a Miley Cyrus song. A lot of songs that were playing on the radio wanted to make him shoot himself.

Wait.

Why did he even care?

It's not like they're being graded or anything. Mr. Schue would probably even forget about them, and just go straight for whatever Rachel was singing.

He looked up at Tina, who smiles at him. He smiles back, but close-lipped.

That's weird.

Were they smiling at eachother?

Puck quickly looked away again, and his eye caught on a CD case.

Of course!


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: I told you so. Well, Kurt did, anyways. Rachel sang a Taylor Swift song. I. Am. Psychic.**

**Thanks to all of my reviewers!**

**Sorry about the short update. **

Puck doesn't say a word to me, just smiles softly. "Let's go," he says.

"Oh. Okay," I say. Maybe he's sick of me. I gently put down the CD case that I was holding, and follow him as he walks back down the aisles, and with a nod at the cashier, opens the door. He holds it out for me.

"Ladies first," he says with a smirk. I roll my eyes, and step out into the parking lot. It's starting to snow again, but not the cold snow. Dandruff snow, barely reaching the tops of your hairline before it evaporates into the air. Puck starts up his truck, engine roaring to a deafening pierce. I climb in.

"You take a left to get to my house," I say as I climb in.

"Who says we're going home?" The bad boy says with a smirk. He pulls up at the West Park.

West Park is slightly nice. The playground has seen better days; it's rust is crawling up every pole. The grass is in patches, with brown spots littering the trees. Scraps of paper that have missed the trash are scattered about as well. But the leaves, well, the leaves make it all worth coming there. Even though it's winter, the leaves still seem to be bright orange and blown across the ground. It makes a satisfying crunch as it crushes under my shoes.

I'm slightly confused to why Puck stops here.

"Are we going to play on the swingset?" I ask, tilting my head.

"No, but we are going to get some inspiration," he says, shoving the car keys in his pocket and taking a step out onto a grassy knoll. I follow him, stepping out as well.

That's when I hear the music.

Guitar strumming.

The man is sitting against a tree, beat up acoustic sprawled over his chest, calloused fingers playing gently. He has a beard that has twigs lining it, and the occasional chest shattering cough tells me he's not physically okay. Puck hums along to the tune. The man looks up at him.

"You know the song?" he asks Puck.

Puck simply nods. "Yeah. My mom's a huge fan of them."

"Could you sing it?" he asks. "My throat is much too ragged."

Puck looks around quickly, possibly seeing if there's anyone he knows here.

"Do it," I say, elbowing him. "There's no one watching."

Puck shrugs. "Sure, whatever."

The man starts the song over again, and Puck sings.

_April come she will  
When streams are ripe and swelled with rain;  
May, she will stay,  
Resting in my arms again  
_I watch him with curiosity. Puck, I mean. He's so different when he sings, when he's not trying to look cool. He looks so much more relaxed. And possibly, happy? Content? Or simply at peace? _  
June, she´ll change her tune,  
In restless walks she´ll prowl the night;  
July, she will fly  
And give no warning to her flight.  
_Maybe I don't know him as well as I thought._  
August, die she must,  
The autumn winds blow chilly and cold;  
September I´ll remember.  
A love once new has now grown old._

On the drive back to my house, I finally ask him.

"Why did we go to the park?"

"I told you; inspiration."

"The man?"

"Yeah. He's almost always there. Every Monday. Even in the cold. Just playing. I think his wife died or somethin'."

"How sad."

"I guess," he says with a shrug.

I get out of the car, stepping onto my driveway. It's still snowing.

"Thanks," I say.

"Your welcome."

I walk up the front steps, smiling contentedly.

Maybe things will finally turn around. I'll be good in school, have a happy boyfriend, be friends with Puck...or not. I might be getting too far ahead of myself.

I open the front door, expecting an empty house.

"Tina, where have you been?" My mother asks, her face suddenly in mine.

"Wha-"

"It's six o'clock!" she says. Oh, shit. I didn't know it was that late.

"I'm sorry, I-" She interrupts me, wrapping me in a hug.

"I was so worried!" she coos. Well, this is certainly different. What's going on? I push Mom away, looking around for something. I don't know what.

"Tina," a breathless voice says. I turn to the left, the voice coming from the hallway. "You've grown," he continues.

"Jared?" I ask, knees weak.

Everything collapses as I run towards my brother.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N:Warn me if Puck is getting too OOC. Please. Long update since I love you all. **

He embraces her, squeezing her shoulders. All of the shit that may or may not be going on in her life right now melted away. She hasn't seen Jared in almost four years now. He's grown much taller, shoulders broad. A light stubble scatters his chin, and he's wearing thin framed glasses. People always said they look exactly alike. Now, looking at him, she's not quite sure.

"I've missed you so much," she says, tears choking up in her throat. He's crying too; she feel a drop fall to her shoulder. She doesn't mind.

"I thought I'd never see you again," he says breathlessly.

"Same here." she pulls away, arms falling to her sides. "Why did you leave me? Why didn't you say goodbye?"

"What are you talking about?" he asks. "I didn't want to leave. I meant to say goodbye. But Mom and Dad kicked me out."

"Wha..." She turns to my mother, who's clearing her throat.

"Let's eat dinner now, yes? We'll make cookies!" her mother says, clasping her hands together.

"You sent away my brother?" Her hands start to shake. Nothing seems clear anymore.

"No, no! He wanted to go away!"

Jared's lip curls. "You said that you asked her if she wanted me out. That she said she hated me. That she didn't even want to speak to me ever again."

Tina scoffs. "That's a lie! She told me you hopped a train, and never said where you were going! Dad said that you hated us!"

"No need to yell. We'll talk over dinner!" her mother starts to back away towards the kitchen.

"How dare you keep me away from my own brother!" she spits, pointing an accusatory finger.

"I didn't! He's lying!" Her mother sputters.

"I'm the liar? How about you two?" Jared asks, his voice raising dangerously high. They were all skating on very thin ice here, testing to see how loud they could get before it cracks underneath. Luckily, they didn't need to wonder anymore. Tina's father burst in, shattering the ice for them.

"What the fuck is all of this yelling about?" her father shouts, clutching the keys in his hand. His eyes are wild and angry, darting around, They land on Jared, eyes widened at the sight of their dad. "Jared?" his father demands, like her brother was some old collegue he found at a soup kitchen.

"Yeah, it's me dad," Jared say, bitter acid lacing his words.

"What are you doing here?" he asks.

"Am I not allowed in your royal castle?" Jared asks, fingers raking across his palm.

"Not anymore. Not ever since you became a worthless, pathetic, waste of skin," her father says, teeth grinding together.

This was not good.

"Come on, let's just have dinner!" Mom says cheerfully.

"With him? Not likely," Jared says.

"Don't talk to your father that way!" Dad says, marching to where they were all standing.

"You are not my father!" Jared shouts. "Not ever since you became a worthless, pathetic, lump of useless skin!"

A fist slams in my brother's nose, causing him to stumble back a few feet.

"Lee!" her mother shouts, addressing my father. "Stop it!"

"Shut up, May," he tells my mother. "Don't meddle with this. Jared is just weak."

"Fuck you," Jared says, fists shaking, clutching his nose. "You're a spineless coward, and deserve to rot in the deepest pits of hell."

"Get the hell out of my house," Dad says.

"Daddy," Tina whispers. "Daddy, please."

"Stay out of this Tina."

"No!" she says, a bit more forcefully. "You are not taking my brother away from me again!"

"He's not apart of this family. Not since he threw his life away to drugs, and failed his classes, becoming some stupid loser!"

"Oh, like you're so much better Dad," she says sarcastically. "I'm sure your line of whores knocking on your door will have some words about your clean, perfect life."

"You watch your tongue young lady!" her mother scolds.

"No, Mom. He can't just keep bullying us like this!" she says, linking arms with Jared.

"What happened to my children?" her father asks. "I don't see them here. Where's my little girl, who I would take out for pink lemonade and tell stories to? Where's the son who would tell me all about what bugs he collected, and home runs he hit?"

"They're gone, along with their loving father," Tina spits.

"Nice," Jared says under his breath.

"Get out of my house," her father says, low and steady. "Now."

"Bye, Tina," Jared says, unlinking her arm and starting towards the door.

"Don't leave me again!" she says.

"I'll be back," he promises.

"The hell you won't," her father says.

The door closes behind him.

Leaving Tina completely, utterly, alone.

Her father sits at the table. "Where's dinner?" he demands.

Mom scurries into the kitchen. Tina stands there, horrified.

"You bastard," she says. "I finally get to see my brother, who I haven't spoken to in four years, and you _kick him out?_" Her father simply clears his throat.

"That kind of poison doesn't deserve to be in this house," he says calmly.

She can barely even hear him. All she's looking at is the blood stains in the white carpet, from where her father hit him. Her knees shake, and she's going to burst into tears at any moment.

"Fuck you," she says, loud and clear.

"What did you say to me young lady?" her father asks.

"Fuck you," she says, even louder, and storms out the door.

It's snowing.

She ignores the yells from inside the house, and stomps through the fresh snow. She has no idea where she's going, or what she's going to do once she's there.

_Just away from there. Just away from there. Just away from there._ She chants it in her mind, like some twisted mantra.

God, she hates her dad. Her mom, too. It's a hot fire, burning away her insides, making her want to scream and punch something. She grunts angrily and kicks a bench. Her brother must be long gone by now. She didn't even get his number. And she forgot her coat. Fuck.

The streetlights illuminate the falling snowflakes as they land one by one.

It's all too much sometimes.

She collapses onto the bench, curling up into a ball and weeping. Why does everything have to be taken away from her? Her brother was her best friend in elementary school. She would come to him with all of her problems. Jenny was ignoring her, Mrs. Markley was being a total bitch, etc. And Jared, being the wise and all knowing, would tell her exactly how to solve it. Then when Dad got the new job and became distant, and Jared started to accelerate at a downwards spiral towards throwing away his entire life, everything changed. Tina never got his advice. Her dad stopped taking her for pink lemonade. Her mother became fragile and often covered up her emotions.

All of the memories made Tina sob even harder. Nothing ever went right for her.

A rough hand was placed on her shoulder.

"Tina?" a voice asked. "Are you alright?"

Puck.

Of all of the people to come right now, in her time of utter despair, it was Puck.

"Nothing's alright," she whispers, trying to pull herself together. Puck comes and sits next to her, watching her with worried eyes. And she loses it. She buries her head into Puck, crying. She fully expects him to punch her or something, but he doesn't. He just holds her.

"Tina, it's okay. It's okay," he shushes her, but not in a mean way. He's trying to calm her down. She takes in a few ragged breaths. "Tell me what happened."

After a few moments of trying to get it all under control, she takes a huge breath and tells him everything. About her parents, and her brother, her brother's disappearance. His reappearance. The events leading up to right this second.

"He never even cared!" she says. "Not about us, about his wife, he, I, well, I hate him!"

"I know," he says.

"You do?" she asks, looking in his eyes. They're steady, and watching me with interest.

"Everyone hates their father. The only difference between you and them, is that you have a solid reason too."

"Do you hate your father?"

His gaze drops. "I don't know. Sometimes I do. Sometimes I think he's the coolest fucking thing ever."

"I understand. I used to be like that. Now, I don't think I'll be liking my dad anytime soon," she says, snorting. But then everything seems to clear up, now that she's off of her sad haze. "Wait, what are you doing out here?"

Puck looks up at the grey sky, crossing his arms behind his head. "I had this feeling."

"A feeling about what?"

"That something was wrong, and I needed to take a walk. I had this certainty that that something was you."

He says it with such seriousness that she laughs. "Really?" she asks.

"Yeah. Look, I know it sounds stupid, but-"

"It doesn't sound stupid at all!" she protests. "It's really sweet, actually."

He gives me a bewildered look. "Sweet?"

She blushes, looking away. "Sorry, I-"

"Thanks," Puck says. "That's nice of you to say."

"Thanks? I should be thanking you!" she says, throwing up her arms. "You, Puckerman, actually comforted the insane emotionally fragile girl!"

"Tina, you are far from fragile. You fucking stood up to your dad. You defended your brother." Her blush deepens, and she silently thanks the darkness for making it hard to see anything. She turns to face him, pulling her legs up to her chest.

"I can't believe you're actually this nice guy," she says with disbelief.

"Yeah, well, don't tell anyone," he says, winking. "Top secret."

There's a long, silence. Not awkward though. Puck starts to get up, brushing the snow off of his pants.

"Come on," he says. "You must be freezing. We can get you home."

She wants to protest. Home is the last place she wants to go to. But there's really no other place. They start walking, and Puck wraps an arm around her. She convinces herself it's just because they're both cold, and she leans into him.

She starts seeing her home in the distance.

Along with flashing red and blue lights.

She unhooks herself from Puck, and stares at the scene.

Her father's car, wrapped around a streetlight.

She breaks away, sprinting.

Glass everywhere.

Crooked pole.

Her father's car. Her father's fucking car.

Crashed.


	9. Chapter 9

She bursts in the door, and finds her mother there, talking with a police officer.

"What the fuck happened?" Tina asks. Her mother and the cop quickly look over to her.

"Tina! Watch your language!"

"I don't give a shit, mom. Why is Dad's car completely totaled out there?"

"Young lady, you're father has gotten in a car crash," the cop said. "We believe he wasn't in his full mental state."

"What does that mean?" her mom asks.

Tina snorts. "It means he was drunk off of his pathetic ass, ain't that right officer?"

"Well, I wouldn't put it that way, but-"

She throws up her hands and laughs shortly. "Wow. What a winner my dad is. What a fucking fuckity fucker he is!"

"Tina Cohen-Chang!" her mother scolds. Tina puts her hands on her hips, glaring at her mom.

"You have to stop this, Mom. You have to stop him. He's becoming a total asshole, and you just take it like her bitch!"

Her mother stares at her feet. "I'm going to the hospital to visit him. Would you like to go?"

"Screw him. I'll stay here."

"Are you sure you'll be okay by yourself?"

"Are you serious?" she asks. "I've been alone in this fucking house ever since I was 12. I'll be perfectly fucking fine."

"She won't be alone," a voice says, coming from the doorway. Tina turns around to find Puck, leaning against the doorframe, looking straight at her mother.

"Who are you?" her mom asks.

Puck shrugs. "A friend."

Her mother looks like she wants to say more, but she just shakes her head and sighs. "I'll be back." She brushes past Tina, but before she can leave, Tina speaks up again.

"Mom?" she calls. Her mother pauses.

"Yeah?"

"Tell him. That he needs to stop."

Her mother pretends she didn't hear Tina, and closes the door behind her. The police officer leaves as well, and she's left alone with Puck in the middle of her living room. She drops to her knees in the carpet, head hanging, hair falling down.

"Uh, you aren't going to cry again, are you?" Puck asks from above her.

Tina considers this. Is she?

No. She's done with crying. She holds up an index finger, and pulls out her cell phone. Scrolling through the contacts, she presses 'Send'.

_Riiiing. Riiing. Riiing. Riiing. Riiiiin. Hey hey hey, this is Mike The Chang, and I'm not here right-_

Tina groans, and closes her phone. "Great time not to answer, Mike," she grumbles.

"You okay?" Puck asks.

Tina sighs. "I need a distraction."

"Well..." Puck's eyes dart around the room. "Want to give me a tour of your house?"

Puck follows Tina while she trudges up the stairs to her room. There aren't any family portraits on the hallway walls, no paintings. Just Chinese symbols or something. There's an empty room next to Tina's, but it's empty, and leftovers of posters have been torn off the wall. Maybe it's where her brother lived.

"Here's my vampire cave," Tina says, opening the door. She's not kidding. The entire room is painted jet black, and there a candles instead of simple light-bulbs. Edgar Allen Poe is stacked to the brim on her bookshelf.

"Wow," he says.

"What?" Tina asks, tugging off her boots.

"I didn't expect your room to be so..." he searched for the right words. "Cliche. Not you."

She waves her arm around the room. "This doesn't seem like me?"

Puck shrugs. "Aren't you supposed to be a non conformist and shit?"

Tina laughs. "Check the closet."

He raises an eyebrow, and slides the door that leads to her closet. First of all, it's a walk-in. Biggest closet he's seen, about the size of his own bedroom at home.

The walls almost blind him.

Splattered on the walls, are a blend of mismatched neon colors, just in huge blobs everywhere.

"Abuse the paintbucket much?" Puck asks. Tina laughs again. At least she's not crying.

Puck explores a little deeper, digging through random clothes and CDs. He feels a little intrusive, but it quickly fades. When has the Puckster ever felt guilty? ….scratch that. When had Puck ever cared about searching through a chick's closet?

Under a pile of abandoned pink dresses, tags still on them, he uncovers a slick black case, pretty long. He runs his hand over it, feeling the smooth surface. What's inside? He clicks the latches open, and finds a Gibson acoustic guitar, mint condition, staring up at him.

"Holy shit," he says, lifting it carefully up.

"What?" Tina calls.

"This guitar," he calls back. "You play?"

Tina's figure appears in the doorway, biting her lip. "That was my brother's."

"Oh. OH. I'm sorry." He ruefully takes off the strap and makes a motion to set the guitar back down.

"It's okay. It hasn't been touched in four years. My parents were going to smash it, but I saved it," she explained.

"Thank god you did, she's a real beauty." He fingers the strings a bit, playing the simple scales. Tina sits on the carpeted floor, cross legged.

"Play a song," she says suddenly.

"Really?" he asks.

"Yeah. It's a distraction."

"Alright..." He clears his throat, and starts the notes.

_Satellite in my eyes  
Like a diamond in the sky  
How I wonder.  
Satellite strung from the moon  
And the world your balloon  
Peeping tom for the mother station  
Winter's cold spring erases  
And the calm away by the storm is chasing  
Everything good needs replacing  
Look up, look down all around, hey satellite_

"The Dave Matthews band?" Tina asks. Puck nods, but doesn't stop singing.

_Satellite, headlines read  
Someone's secrets you've seen  
Eyes and ears have been  
Satellite dish in my yard  
Tell me more, tell me more  
Who's the king of your satellite castle? _

Tina closes her eyes, breathing softly. She's listening.

She's kind of pretty right now.

She changed out of her goth clothes since they got wet, and now she's just wearing torn jeans and a shirt. Barefoot.

It's kind of sexy.

_Rest high above the clouds no restrictions  
Television you bounce from the world  
And while I spend these hours  
Five senses reeling  
I laugh about this world in my satellite eyes._

Puck stops playing, and the room is kind of silent, awkward.

"Uh..." he says, clearing his throat. "Want to watch a movie?"

Tina gives him a playful smile. "Ever seen Princess Bride?"

Of course Puck had seen Princess Bride. His sister only made him watch it everyday with her when she was going through some phase or another. He still smiled at the 'partly dead' scene, and glanced over at Tina, who was smiling too. That's good.

They were sitting millimeters apart on the couch.

Puck, for some reason, was very aware of that fact. Every time Tina shifted slightly, his body tensed up instantly.

And his eyes were getting really heavy.

They started to close when the credits rolled.

He was so tired that he didn't even notice Tina had fallen asleep on his lap.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: this took way to long to come out with.**

Tina woke up with the scratchy fabric of pants against her cheek.

She sat straight up, and realizing she had slept on Puck's lap.

Puck was snoozing softly, upright, shirt rumpled.

Oh god. How long had they been asleep?

She checked the digital clock on the DVD player. 4: 05 am. The house was silent, and it was a cloudy night, and the room was a light grey.

And her mother still wasn't home.

Her eyes dropped. God, she had only slept an hour or so. Really...tired...

She didn't want to go into the solitaire of her room. And there wasn't a lot of room on her small green couch that her family had gotten from the thrift store.

Could she just subtly lay her head back down on Puck's lap? What if he got mad?

He obviously fell asleep after she did. If he was mad, he would have woken her up immediately.

...and he was actually quite cozy.

Tina ignored all of the protests of the insane notion, and gave into her sleep needs, slowly lowering her head back to it's original position.

It really wasn't so bad...

Puck was having a dream. _They were on stage, at Regionals, and Sam was wearing his Rocky Horror shorts, and Finn had a drumstick up his nose, and Santana and Britt were doing some pole dance. Mr. Schuester and Ms. Sylvester were having a paintball fight in the audience, loudly arguing that pencils didn't or did deserve lead. The Warblers were in a giant orgy, something Puck really did not want to see. _

_The spotlight was on him in all of this wackiness. _

_The guitar he was playing earlier was strapped on his shoulder._

_His throat was dry, and he looked out at the audience, then glanced over his shoulder, seeing who was actually being normal. Not really anyone. Great. _

_Except._

"_Tina?" he called. Shouldn't she be here, being normal? He stared at everyone's faces, searching. _

_Absent._

"_Tina?" he called again, a bit more urgent._

"_Tina? She hasn't been here for weeks!" Rachel Berry popped up, wearing some ridiculous poofy poodle outfit and hoola hooping. _

"_What? What happened?" he asked._

_Rachel shrugs. "I think she quit, or something."_

_The audience got impatient. "Someone sing already!" a random person shouted._

"_Noah, sing!" Rachel shouted, and pushed him forward._

_Puck stumbled, and saw the lights above blend into a whirl of dizziness. His foot slipped off the edge of the floor. _

_He fell off the stage, plunging into blackness._

"_Come down now," a voice whispered._

_He had no idea who it was._

Puck jerked into consciousness. His eyes darted around. Where the hell was he?

Then he gazes down to see a resting Tina on his lap, looking distraught in her sleep.

What time is it? (_To his chagrin, he mentally answered "ADVENTURE TIME!" Damn his sister and her cartoons)._

5:37. Way too damn early. He really wanted to go back to sleep, but Tina probably would be really pissed to wake up in his lap. He didn't want any chick claws drawn at this hour. So what was he going to do-

She stirred, eyes cracking open. She quickly sat up, looking around. Her eyes met with Puck's, and she cursed.

"Shit, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to, I just was tired and I guess I just-"

"Tina. Chill," Puck said, cutting her off. He stood up, stretching his arms and cracking his neck. "I guess we both fell asleep."

"Oh. Uh, is my mom home yet?" Tina asked.

"No. Not yet," Puck said.

"Want me to make some coffee?"

"Yes. God, yes."

Tina shuffled off into the kitchen, and Puck sighed. During that conversation, he had been analyzing her. Her messy hair. Slightly confused parted lips. Ruffled clothes. He had seen this look on a lot of girls that he had slept in the same room with (and in the same bed, with their clothes off, but never-mind), but for some reason, when Tina looked like this, it made Puck feel vulnerable. Like she knows some huge secret about him and is holding it over her head. But that's not even true. Puck's the one who knows the secret. And he's not going to hold it over anything. He may be an douche, but he's not a jackass.

He thinks. He wandered around the living room, and happens upon a family photo album (fine, he might've opened a few drawers, sue him) and fliped through it. There are mostly pictures of Tina, throughout the years. Piano recitals, ballet performances, and school graduations. _What an overachiever_, he thought. It also has old photos of her parents' wedding. They look happy. The husband, Tina's dad, seems studious but in love. The mom is carefree and relaxed.

It reminded Puck too much of the past, so he quickly turns to the next page. And he finds a torn in half picture in a small pocket. He pulls them out, and on one piece, it's Tina, seeming to be holding something. On the other, it's a boy, slightly older, holding her hand.

Is this the brother that Tina mentioned?

"Coffee's ready!" Tina called. Puck shoved the album back in the drawer. He entered the kitchen, and the scent of warm coffee hits him like a pleasurable train. She handed him a steaming mug, and he immediately took a huge gulp.

"HOLY SHIT THAT'S FUCKING HOT!" He said, setting the mug down and sticking his tongue out. Tina giggled.

"No, duh. Hot chocolate. Key word being 'hot'."

Puck cleared his throat, unsure how to ask his upcoming question. "So...uh...how are you?"

"What do you mean?" she asked. "Like, should I answer 'fine', because that's how I'm supposed to?"

Puck shrugged. "I dunno know. If you're fine, then say you're fine. But if you're not, and I don't see how you could be, then don't say that."

"I see," Tina murmured. She sighed, eyes drifting towards the ceiling. Her toes curl into the tile. "Actually, I think I'm okay. I mean, I never realized how much I hate my father until now. It's kind of a relief. Maybe he'll get his act together now."

Puck rolled his eyes. "I hate to tell you this, but that's bullshit. Fathers can't change. They just can't. You may hope, and pray, but really, they're all asses."

"Looks like someone has major daddy issues."

"Hey. I'm the freakin' Puckasaurus. Any issues I have is whether or not these guns," he said, pointing to his arm muscles, "are legal to own."

Tina snorted, and put down her cup. "Hey, Puck? Thank y-"

"Don't!" he cried, holding up a finger. "Don't thank me! Then that means that I was nice to someone. And I can't be."

Tina opened her mouth to say something, when the door opened. Puck straightened, expecting her mother to come barging in. Instead it was a bespectacled college age boy, who ran to embrace Tina.

Is this another boyfriend he didn't know about? Was she cheating on Mike?

Feeling awkward, Puck started to back out of the kitchen, when the guy broke from the hug and looked up at him, pushing his glasses further up on the bridge of his nose.

"And who is this gentleman?" he asked. "A suitor, perhaps?"

Puck cleared his throat uncomfortably, and Tina blushed feverishly. "Jared, meet Puck. Puck, Jared. Jared is the brother that I told you about." She walked over to Puck, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Jared, Puck is the one who offered to stay with me, after, after, everything. I didn't want to be alone."

Jared extends an arm, and Puck shakes it. "Thanks for taking care of my sis, man. But I think you should leave now. This is family stuff."

"Jared! That's rude!"

"No, it's cool," Puck says. "See you at school, Tina." He grabs his jacket, shrugs it on, and walks out into the cold morning, more confused than ever.

Who is this girl?

* * *

"As soon as I heard I drove right over here," Jared said. "How are you?"

For some reason, the question sounded better when Puck said it. More meaningful.

"Fine," she said, gulping.

"Tina. I'm here for you. You can come live with me in San Francisco. You're pretty independent, and you could go to a high school there," he said, embracing her in another hug. She pulled away.

"I don't want to go to California. I like it here in Lima."

"Why?" He blinked. "Does this have something to do with this Puck guy?"

"Of course not!" she blurted. "I have a boyfriend. His name is Mike. I can live without Dad. I'll be fine."

"I'M HOME!" her mother called. Tina stifled a groan, and plastered on the happiest smile she could manage.

"Hi, Mom!" she said, squeezing her shoulder. Her mother looked broken. She had dark circles under her eyes, and her nails were bitten to a stub. Tina saw how much her mother is hurting over this.

This is throwing off the balance.

"Hello, Tina," she said, breathing a sigh of relief. Tina realized that her mother was expecting her to completely snap, like she had been doing the past couple of nights. It panged her heart. She had been hard on her mother.

But she did have to ask.

"Did you talk to him? Tell him to stop?" she asked.

Her mother sighed. "I'm going to get some sleep."

"Mom!" she cried.

What utter bullshit.

She checked the clock. 15 minutes till school started.

No way in hell she was going to school.

"So, I'm gonna leave," Jared said.

"Yeah. Okay."

She hears the door close. She's alone in the living room. Alone in here.

Comes a time.


End file.
